#anton vtm

[blanketempress]

anyway, time for more skimpy outfits doodles feat anton, lorenzo, kat and klebert

[kavalyera]

Bbg I did not mean to make an insane fucking lineup for you but alas here we are😔

anyways here’s some character inspiration that helped me build dr kelley<333 and also for the masses to get to know her better :3

Amy Dunne - I watched Gone Girl and read the book and I adored how much of a psychopath Amy was. Her strive to perfection and her constant adaptation to becoming more and more “perfect” in her own eyes to the point it puts her husband and other people at stake was probably the craziest thing I’ve seen and I love her for it. Dr. Kelley is like that in the sense she will become ruthless in order to reach these impossible standards of perfection she holds both to herself and other people.

Dr. Clef - She was my SCP OC before she was my VTM OC and Dr. Clef’s character played a major role. They don’t have anything much in common personality wise, but she makes herself an enigma to protect her reputation and make sure no one knows what else she might do or say.

Anton Chigurh - Both characters are devoid of remorse—though Dr. Kelley still does have a bit of cognitive empathy as she recognizes that she needs to understand people to uphold her reputation. Dr. Kelley never threatens people much like Anton Chigurh, her acts of violence being silent and clean.

GLaDOS - Dr. Kelley is often passive aggressive towards people she looks down upon, which is most people. She’s hates people that don’t have the drive to be smarter or more knowledgeable. Probably the biggest influence on Dr. Kelley’s character because basically the entire foundation of Dr. Kelley’s character is her motivation for a surprisingly sincere passion of medicine and human anatomy which is based of off GLaDOS’ own passion for science :3

Mother Miranda - Both are exceptionally intelligent but both of them have a fatal flaw: their arrogance. Their explosive anger comes after playing calm for far too long, which then causes dangerous shit to happen

Lorraine Broughton - Kind of a new one since I just watched Atomic Blonde and they’re both ENTJs so that’s what they have going on for them!!!! ^_^ They’re both stoic in the terms they don’t let anyone see who they really are. For Dr. Kelley, vulnerability repulses her to the point she finds any form of emotional weakness of her disgusting and that “only humans should feel this way” and other kindred are like okay damn. Both are assertive strategists who are directo and don’t play when it comes to getting shit done💗

[thisteaistoosweet]

A bunch of miscellaneous sketches of some vtm ocs that I never really shared outside of discord.

Read more down below:

In order: 

-Anton Lacroix: Toreador (yes he’s Sebastian Lacroix’ dad. Is extremely devoted to late wife Katia and attempts to collect every piece of artwork she’s ever done. His art is outfit design and doesn’t know Sebastian is alive)

-Willem: Venture (Anton’s best friend and depending on au is Sebastian’s sire. A lot of people mistake him for a toreador because he likes to make wine and metalsmith.)

- “Ume”: 4th gen Tzimische/ Tzimische adjacent antediluvian

(there’s a-lot to say about him , so for brevity’s sake, some fae sent him back to the past and he got turned into a vamp and hoping to save his vamp bf in the future from his final death)

-Izaya: Malkavian

(my second vtmb character and Ume’s bf. Again a lot to say but simply put his sire ate a Tremere, so izaya can do exactly two high level spells and anything else is a major flop. He likes to press every single button Sebastian has and is a menace to kindred and kind alike.)

-Jessica: Lasombra (v5)

(Again a lot to say but specifically in v5 Sabbat kinda thing. Is the bishop of Savanah Georgia, works at the local Waffle House, has a human roommate named Marcy who likes to role play as a Victorian vamp, and is in a pissing contest with the local head of the second inquisition. Her superior is trying to convert her to traditional Sabbat ideals through her fight with the SI. <I don’t care if her story isn’t lore accurate I’m the story teller here.>)

- Durante: Tremere

(A powerful player in the Tremere pyramid, rival to Oliver Thrace, and technically the sire to Preston Varrick. He’s sadistic, manipulative and likes toying with his ghoul at the time, Preston. Decides he going to eat the Salubri Dominico to one up Thrance, wins the dominance battle but mentally peaces out once he realizes he can’t take being more emotionally aware of people; leaving his body to be taken over by Dominico.)

-Dominico: Salubri

(there’s a lot for him again, but once he gets control of his new body he actively tries to hide that he’s a Salubri from the rest of the pyramid while attempting to teach Preston, his new childe, how to be a good little Tremere and how to use blood magic. <he sucks at both of these, blind leading the blind here.> and to figure out how to escape the pyramid. Thrace figures it out and after turning his own childe and their lover into a gargoyle, decides he wants Preston to be his new childe and proceeds to execute Dominico via beheading with wire. Preston never finds out Dominico died and was told he ran from the pyramid.

[science-slapfight]

ROUND 1 POLL 11

16. Anton (He/Him) @poicyss

Sooo... Kicks my feet... Anton is a little different :)

You see, he IS the study! Sort of. Anton is a shadow creature (named A Shadow of Doubt by researchers before he named himself) whose whole deal is to shapeshift to fit into other groups for survival, usually preying on them and their resources. He was captured by the agents of a certain Lobotomy Corporation to be in locked into containment. However, he took a liking to the agents who observed him, and quickly developed his own human body to help them do their jobs and contain and observe other monsters. Because he's all about fitting in he's really good at gathering information through attachment type work, and since his body isn't real if he is harmed in any way he'll appear the next day under the shadows of the rising sun like brand new. It's very neat! But nobody likes him because he's scary! Even if at this point, he's basically just a normal guy... He's been playing human for so long, the only thing really separating him from one is his appearance. He's very eager to help and no longer wants to destroy, but to learn and make friends :) He's nice he promises! Just look at that big ol grin.

Relevant Links: https://toyhou.se/12298764.anton

30. Lyssa Breach (She/Her) @slcknasty

A scientist, and also a wizard! A wizard scientist! Also, a truly horrible woman whose only real passion is for her research.

She's a Vampire the Masquerade OC and a member of the Tremere clan, who are known for being strictly hierarchical, vigorously defending the secrecy of their sorcery, and partaking in some very unethical experiments that have all been swept under the rug. Lyssa is a perfect representation of her clan, with both natural talent in her study of Thaumaturgy and a scientist's passion to push the boundaries. As "pushing the boundaries" of blood magic involves a lot of experimentation with people's blood, which is generally hard to get hold of consensually, this makes her not entirely popular with those outside her clan.

Her personality does not help with this reputation. Lyssa walks a fine line between the professional scientist and the vengeful wizard - though she tries to keep a veneer of precise and emotionless efficiency, her temper is incredibly brittle, and she responds to any slights towards herself or her work with absolute fury. Anyone who crosses her is likely to find themselves on the wrong end of her latest experiment, or at least dogged by a petty grudge that will surface at the worst possible moment.

As well as her experiments with blood magic, Lyssa has also ~definitely not~ been dipping her toe into even more unethical magical studies - though it would get her and her entire clan into considerable trouble if it was revealed, she has been attempting to recreate Gargoyles - uncanny creatures made by combining the blood of other vampires. Only one person has discovered what she's working on so far, and she has plans to deal with him...

Fun fact: her hands are permanently stained blood-red as a consequence of all the fucking around with blood magic she's done. She wears gloves all the time to hide this.

Relevant Links: her tag on my vtm blog: https://gehenna-calling.tumblr.com/tagged/tremyssa (may contain mentions of blood etc)

(Image credits: @spellboundcities and @slcknasty, respectively)

[handern]

& 5, 27, 38 for anton :3

5 - How easy is it to earn their mistrust?

Hum

His trust and mistrust are distributed completely randomly, based on absolutely nonsensical criteria

The Lasombra who tried to kill him to piss off his sire? Friend shaped

The Follower of Set who probably wants to diablerize him? A great ally

The Malkavian Prince who blood bonded him and is using him as a spy without him knowing it? A new role model

Miranda, who is just trying their best to keep Luce safe from other vampires and hate-consumes bad vampire fiction for the kicks? Booh hiss if he sees them again he'll run

27 - What causes them to feel dread?

His own brain's made up possible scenarios fill him with way more dread than any real life situation he's ever been in

He's been held at gunpoint and beaten up really badly without feeling too scared about it but if you leave him in a safe but crowded room too long he's going to give himself a panic attack picturing how everything can go wrong

38 - What memory do they revisit most often?

Haha, Anton and his memories :)

I guess he remembers his childhood best, and likes it better than the rest anyway, so maybe something about a really good day where he was playing with his best friend? Nothing extraordinary, when it happened it felt like just any other day but now he's amazed that a perfect day like that could ever happen. No school, home made cake for snack time, best friend and grandpa were there, and they went to run on the beach's rocks pretending to be pirates or something

The rest is just bad memories that he replays too often, he's not sure why since he can't change the past

[churchofcaine]

The Sabbat innately appeals to me because of their diversity, chaos, but also inclusiveness.

Like with the Camarilla, one aspect that gets brushed over is that... most active members in a city are 25-200 years old. T h i n k about the values and ideals that person would hold, on average. Yeah I know LGBTQ people always existed , but like women in America couldn’t functionally exist without a man in those times. And for a very long time it was NOT ok to be out. The local Cam COULD be a haven for turned LGBTQ peoples... but it’s more likely that since the 3 major clans of the Camarilla recruit from the upper echelons of leadership, culture, and learning, it’s more likely they’d be the ones punching down.

Meanwhile the Sabbat doesn’t give a shit. You’re gay? Cool, you still kick ass though right? You’re trans? I got a favor I can pull with the Tzim bishop if you want some titty off the top. You’re asexual? Hell yeah me too brother, haven’t felt a thing below the waist in 40 years.

“Yeah but they’ll kill you for no reason.”

So will the Camarilla. They don’t care about the rituals and binding together, but if you act a certain way and thumb your nose to the higher ups, you’ll get quashed all the same. Theyll make you leave your family, friends, and life and enter into basically servitude under your side for, shit, a quarter century as a fledgling. They’ll only blood bond you if it’s more convenient than staking you out for the sun.

“Yeah but they’re monsters!”

Yes. You are too neonate. There is less difference between you and I than the humans you walk amongst. The difference is I’m not falling apart at the seams because I’m pretending to be something I’m not.

“Yeah but they’re eeeeevil!”

Have you looked at your elders? So low in humanity they look like walking corpses. We cast off the dregs of our humanity to become more true to ourselves. Beyond that Is a cat evil because it hunts mice? Is the hawk evil because it brings down sparrows? No, feeding is natural. It’s the cruelty, the savored exsanguination, the slow kill that only malice fed by intelligence can produce.

[doloresdraws]

‘Been a lot of places And none of them were home Always told myself that I'd be Better off alone Float up from my body Been longing for the moon

If I left the world Would anybody miss me while I look down on this city thinkin' "Should I have loved you more?" And maybe you'd be with me, darlin’ If I hadn't gone, and left the world ‘

Do you remember my Ventrue Vasilisa I painted a few weeks ago? This is her second half, her younger brother & Childe Anton. If it was up to him, he would not even be here anymore. But he is still here, because of her...

Anton is blood bonded to Vasilisa, and he knows that she does all of the things that she does for him, because she believes that it is what he needs to finally embrace this existence. Somehow, she thinks that he needs the influence and power.And that putting him in the position of being the Ventrue Primogen and making everyone think that he is a man that was born to lead will somehow make all of his doubts and melancholy go away.

Anton knows she loves him, and he loves her too, she is his sister, and she has always tried to protect him, but deep in his heart he feels like a lifeless puppet that only exists because she can’t let go of him.

He hates this existence, and feels like he shouldn’t have ever been allowed into this life, he was supposed to die and after years of dealing with his declining health he found solace in the idea of death.

Yet now he was stuck in a life where he was neither alive nor truly dead, feeling like a ghost yet still having to pretend, to feel and to dream.

He never shares these deep thoughts of emptiness and sadness with anyone anymore, he used to share them with Vasilisa, but after a while he realized that she just cannot comprehend it and only gets upset at him and his inability to enjoy the new chance he got at life.

And of course, it had crossed his mind more than a few times to wait for the sun to see it for the last time, but he can’t bring himself to disappoint Vasilisa like this, after all that she had done and is still doing for him.

Instead, he pretends and acts as she wishes him to, fulfilling her expectations of his unlife, while his mind often drifts away...

There was a time in his unlife when he was quite content and even thought he might find a purpose and some joy in this existence. When he gradually fell in love with one of the daughters of their ghoul family that they raised and employed in various positions around their estate. He had seen her grow up, content and even happy with her life, never realizing that she was never really free. He wished he was living in such obliviousness.

Josephine made him feel a bit more connected to the present, he loved to watch her dance and often took her to the social events, because she was so charming and graceful with her black hair and big, blue eyes, he enjoyed showing her off.

There was a lot that he couldn’t talk to her about, but even despite that she made him want to feel more alive. He even told her he wanted to marry and even Embrace her if it was what she desired.

Unfortunately, that never happened, not long after he expressed his desires for Josephine to join him and Vasilisa, he was manipulated into trading Josephine’s life for a valuable information with the Nosferatu.

He didn’t want to do it, but he was pressured by Vasilisa and he regrets it to this day. He believes Josephine was either murdered or thrown somewhere in the depth of the sewers to be a part of a herd for Nosferatu.

He doesn’t know it, but the truth is Vasilisa was the one who set everything with the Nosferatu, so she could get rid of Josephine. At first she was happy that Anton found himself some occupation, after all it was just a ghoul, a beautiful woman, but still just a property. But when Anton told her that he wants not to only marry her, but also ask Prince for the Embrace permit, Vasilisa kept calm, but inside she was livid.

S She couldn’t let him waste such great opportunity on a ghoul, she would never allow him to Embrace anyone who was not of their blood. They were a family and she intended to keep it that way, even if it meant disposing of a woman her brother have loved.

She didn’t feel guilty, because she felt she was doing it for him, but she knew he wouldn’t understand, so she had to make it seem as it was a Nosferatu demand and she had nothing to with it.

Everyone knew how much of a pride trophy Josephine was to Anton, so it wasn’t hard to convince him that the Nosferatu would want to take it away from him to teach him a lesson or just to make him feel as bitter as they are. While he believes she is gone forever, Lazarus actually decided not to kill her, because he grew fond of her and decided to Embrace her instead. But no one except him knows that Mirabelle is actually Josephine, Anton’s former ghoul lover.

Dominate abilities never came naturally to Anton and he avoids using them on people whenever possible and only resorts to Dominate if there isn’t any other choice. It always leaves him confused and with a horrible headache as if each time he does it, he lost a part of himself. There is also the moral aspect of invading privacy of one place, everyone has a right to feel safe and alone with their thoughts…

To other Kindred he might come off as quite cold and distant, always straight on the topic and unapproachable, but the more perceptive Kindred might pick up on him hiding a fragile, pained man who couldn’t care less about Kindred society or power.

Anton © me/doloresdraws lyrics © If I left the world by Gryffin, feat. Marina & Model child

[badass-at-fandoming]

Re-reading the climax of The Victorian Trilogy like "what is a super sophisticated Tremere ritual to a love poem I wrote two thousand years ago hashtag Love Wins."

[gurgurvi]

did some screenshot redraws from No Country For Old Men

[churchofcaine]

So good to see the new blood enjoying the Gifts of Caine and Lilith.

The first time you achieve the black metamorphosis, you feel like you could crush the whole world in your grasp.

black metamorphosis + concepts = :)

[blanketempress]

every time I make up a vampire I think about which other clan they could've been embraced in

if he hadn't crossed paths w Gabrielle first there could have been a chance for Anton to get the attention of a Tremere

in some ways he'd do a lot better than he does as a Malkavian (structure and books), in others he'd do a lot worse (0 competitve spirit in this man)

[mxldito]

rules:  tag ten followers you want to know better !   repost! do NOT reblog!

name: Ravis but my friends call me Ray or Rav!!!

star sign: Scorpio

height: 4′11″. . .😐😑😐

middle name?: Yes but I don’t like it so it doesn’t count. 

put your itunes or  whatever on shuffle. what are the first 6 songs that popped up?

Black Mass - Electric Wizard

Motorpsycho - Devil’s Witches

Choker - Honeyblood

Dangerous - Depeche Mode

Land of the Sky - Bask

Hunter’s Moon - Ghost

grab one book nearest to you and turn to page 23. what’s line 17? 

“’Draweth near in the gloom the twilight of the gods .’ The ravens of night have flown forth to summon Loki, who hath set Valhalla aflame with the searing trident of the Inferno.” -  The Satanic Bible by Anton Szandor LaVey

ever had a poem or a song written about you?

Not as far as I can tell but I’ve written poetry about other people before. 

who is your celebrity crush? 

I wouldn’t say crush so much as I just like their faces but Cody Fern and Tura Satana.

what’s a sound you hate; sound you love? 

HOOOOO WHAT SOUNDS DON’T I HATE. I hate the scraping of metal, the sound of skin on unglazed ceramic, fireworks, electrical buzzing/clicking, children screaming, slamming doors, etc. I do like the sound of running water, mechanical keyboards, long nails tapping on tables, and windchimes tho!!

do you believe in ghosts? 

Oh yeah. I’ve seen and heard spooky shit all my life. As much of a believer as I am, I’m also a skeptic. I always aggressively look for an explanation before I decide it was a ghost. Either way, ghosts are punk ass bitches :v 

how about aliens? 

Again, I’ve seen spooky shit before. UFOs, I can say I’ve confidently seen them. Aliens? I cannot. I’d like to believe in them but I don’t know if my brain can handle actual evidence of them existing. They freak me out a bit, ngl. 

do you drive?

Technically I can, I’m just overly cautious. I don’t have my license yet so legally speaking I can’t drive.  

what was the last book you read? 

Sunglasses After Dark by Nancy A. Collins. 

do you like the smell of gasoline? 

Yeth. 👁️👅👁️

what was the last movie you saw? 

Death Proof. It was fun! 

what’s the worst injury you’ve ever had?

When I was about 11, my friends and I used to race to class. I ended up slipping somehow and my glasses hit the wall (not my face, just my glasses). I was wearing these purple metal frames that had a bit of a sharp edge and it sliced into my eyebrow. They made my sister (@stagebystage) wipe the blood off my face in the nurse’s office lkfjsdlkfjslkjsf until my mom and cousin came to pick me up and took me to get stitches. Now I got a neat lil scar on my left eyebrow.

do you have any obsessions right now?

Oh yah. I’ve been absorbing as much VTM content as I can recently! I’m constantly scheming for the Chronicle I’m running as well! Other than that, my brother got me on Spy X Family and I’m just always waiting for the next episode to come out!! 

do you tend to hold grudges against people who have done you wrong? 

I used to but then I realized they probably would never be sorry so there’s no point in letting the wound fester. Those people only ever cross my mind when I’m telling stories about my youth.

in a relationship? 

Look at this image. Crazy, yeah? :0

Tagged by: @mythopoetica (Thankies!!)​​

Tagging: Ya’ll feel free to snatch this one and just say I tagged you!!

[handern]

11 and i for Anton?

11 - How do they cope with confusion (seek clarification, pretend they understand, etc)?

He usually starts to panic very quietly and looks lost in hopes that the person talking will notice and clarify

if the person does not notice and clarify, he just panics more internally and pretends that he understood everything precisely then fucks up and panics even more

option two is that he's going to nod along while staring blankly then go "I didn't understand shit" after a moment of silence

I) Do you prefer to keep them in their canon universe?

he's technically a recycled character from one of my stories who I shoved into VTM :'D

he works well as a malkavian, and he's pretty easy to send to various settings for some reasons, he fits anywhere

[churchofcaine]

It ever amuses me to see the Anarchs use Sabbat rhetoric. It pains me to say that Hegel was right. The clash of mine own sect and the Camarilla has produced a sect anarchistic and fervent, yet weighed down by the burden of Humanity.

“What do you believe in?” “I believe in myself.”

[churchofcaine]

Storyteller advice: Combat and Movement

So you want to run a combat scene.

You’ve (probably) played other tabletop games and had a good time bludgeoning weird creatures to death. You’ve likely played VtMB and enjoyed the basic gunplay or even the janky melee combat. So you, as the young, naive storyteller crack open your (pre-V5) rule book and suddenly your head explodes with a migraine.

This is because the rules are scattered, the initiative system is crazy complicated, and there are a dozen maneuvers for melee and ranged combat. If you’re a veteran of tabletop games, you may look at some of the melee combat maneuvers and have some questions like “can people attack when grappling?” or “how does someone shoot a gun multiple times in one round?”

Well no worries, because I’m going to explain the combat system to you, why it is bad, and recommend some tweaks.

Combat by the numbers

Everyone involved in combat rolls 1d10+Dexterity+Wits to determine their initiative.

Starting from LOWEST initiative, each character declares what action they will take. You may ready an action to go off when another action occurs, such as dodging an attack.

Characters may move a distant of half of 20 + (dexterity x 3) yards in a turn and still attack.

Each character rolls their Dice Pools (Strength/Dexterity/Manipulation + Whatever) for their action.

If you’re making an attack, you roll Dexterity + Melee/Brawl/Firearms. If you’re doing a melee maneuver, you’re rolling Strength+Brawl generally. These are generally at difficulty 6, which means that a success occurs when your ten sided dice rolls a 6 or higher.

If you’re doing multiple actions you must split your dice pool. In Vampire 20th anniversary edition, this means you take the lowest dice pool of all your actions, and allocate dice to each action. For example, if you’re driving a car and shooting out a window, and your DEX+drive is 6, but your DEX+firearms is 4, you divide your 4 dice between driving and shooting.

If you hit, you roll damage. For melee, roll strength + your additional successes on the attack roll (you only need one success to hit). For guns, add their damage value + additional successes. Maneuvers may or may not do damage but will use the same pool as melee attacks if they do. Some damage may only allow you to roll your Fortitude. This is all at difficulty 6.

If you are hit, you roll to soak the damage. Roll your Stamina + Fortitude (if you have it).

Actions are resolved from the HIGHEST initiative order to the lowest, but all actions occur simultaneously.

Additional Celerity actions occur here.

Storyteller describes what happens dramatically.

The turn ends. Return to step 1.

Why this is a terrible system and you should never use it

There are THREE ROLLS involved for one person taking ONE mundane action. If you’re part of a 5 person group, that is a minimum of 15 rolls before you account for any opposition.

There are too many steps for one turn of combat. This can lead to an entire session being 2 or 3 turns of combat. Boring.

Damage is horribly inconsistent. If you roll a good attack roll, you could roll a terrible damage roll and not do anything. If you roll a good on attack and damage, it can be more damage than even an Elder can soak.

Initiative makes NO sense. The developers seemingly intended for players who did well on their initiative to have foreknowledge of the actions happening around them, but the ability to interfere with other actions is limited. If you go to tackle the guy trying to punch your dainty Toreador friend, he still gets to punch them since actions occur simultaneously.

It is unclear how disciplines can or cannot affect combat. For example, Dread Gaze reduces dice pools, but does it affect the dice pools of the goon shooting at your friend the turn you activate it? Does Shroud of Night increase the difficulty to hit if you’re higher in initiative than your attacker?

A variety of modifiers can change dicepools. Disciplines, firearm maneuvers, melee maneuvers, injuries, and circumstances can add or subtract dice. This can be very difficult to track in addition to figuring out WHEN each addition or subtraction applies.

Soaking is horribly inconsistent. I have been in games were Gangrels high in fortitude and stamina have gotten thrashed due to bad rolls. This more than anything makes players upset because they can never be sure if their “tanky” character is going to be put into Torpor from a bad roll.

Once you’re injured, you’re done. Injury reduces your dice pools, how fast you can move, and how many actions you can take. By default, you can heal only as much blood as you can spend in a round and cannot take any other action while doing so. Rules as written seem to imply injury penalties apply to soak dice as well.

Movement is both too complicated and too lenient. Even a character with 2 dice in dexterity can move 13 yards (39 feet/~12 meters) and attack someone. There is no tactical movement since every character can zip around all but the largest battle maps (If you use that). Injury reduces movement drastically, eventually giving slow static move speeds.

Splitting actions is a mess and never works out well. The game seems to assume everyone will split their dice pools and that’ll somehow balance the game since everyone is trying to dodge and attack. In practice, it’s best to roll your full dice pool on attack and overwhelm the person’s dodge. Celerity where you get either additional dexterity dice or actions, and you completely breaks the combat system by allowing multiple actions at full dice pools.

Recommendations for a more fun and dynamic combat

You do not have to take my ideas as gospel. Take what works for you and your friends, leave what doesn’t.

SOAK LEVELS: A vampire has a static soak rating of their Stamina + Fortitude and an aggravated soak rating of their fortitude. If damage is under half this rating, they take no damage. If it is over half they take 1 damage. If it is over their rating, they take the difference+1 in damage. This makes vampires reliably tough and eliminates an unneeded roll.

ENVIROMENTAL DAMAGE. The only time you should roll soak dice is when damage comes from an irregular source such as sunlight, fire, falling, or the rare electrocution.

TAKE THE INITIATIVE. Initiative is 1d6 added to your static rating in Dexterity and Wits. This makes initiative less swingy and eliminates ambiguity.

MY TURN ON THE TURN ORDER. The first turn in combat, characters declare their actions from LOWEST to highest. Then actions resolve from HIGHEST to lowest. You roll for the action on your turn and any effects are immediately applied. After this first turn, it goes dungeons and dragons style. Highest to lowest, effects immediately occur. Do not re roll initiative.

THROW OUT MOVEMENT. I personally do dramatic movement, where there are no set movement speeds and players move as the drama of the scene allows. Getting shot from a distance? Gonna take a turn or two to get there. See your friend getting beaten through a window? You can jump through the window and risk damage or take a turn to enter the house. Find what works for you and your trope.

LET THEM DEFEND. If a character doesn’t move, allow them the chance to dodge or block if circumstances allow.

INJURIES FOR DRAMA. Don’t religiously observe injury penalties. These should only kick in during significant fights and should be fairly applied. Injuries should never affect soak ratings

WE JUST WANNA SURVIVE. If someone wants to take an action while healing, default rules require a stamina and survival check. Ignore this. Use Willpower instead. Every Vampire has some dots in this, and it allows your thaumaturge some hope once he is hurt.

SPLIT THE DIFFERENCE. To take multiple actions, increase the difficulty of each subsequent action by 1 and reduce the dice pool of each action by the total number of actions being taken. If the dicepool is 0 or less, they cannot take that action. For example, if a character tries to jump a wall, trip a bad guy, and shoot him while he is down, the first action is Dexterity+Athletics-3 at difficulty 6. The second is Strength+Brawl-3 at difficulty 7. The third is Dexterity+Firearms-1 (+2 for shooting at someone prone) at difficulty 8.

GRAPPLING WITH MORALITY. Grapple and hold are two separate actions but have ill defined effects. Hold says they cannot attack and can only try to break the hold, but grapple doesn’t mention that but talks about it doing damage every turn. My recommendation is when you are grappling, whoever rolls higher on a Strength+Brawl does damage to the other and neither person can attack another target until they both stop grappling. Hold restrains a person until they break out, but neither the holder nor the person can take any physical action besides trying to escape

TAKE A BITE. Normally you can bite someone after tackling, grappling, or holding a person. This makes strength builds very one sided, where each turn they’re going to try to tackle and then do a Strength Aggravated damage bite. This is only worse if they also have Celerity and can bite entire rooms to death. Instead, only allow bites after a Hold is established, then another roll to Pin. This at least allows the person being held to escape. Instead a Kiss can be done during a grapple or tackle to drain blood.

[badass-at-fandoming]

Are you ready for more Morbid Initiation snarky summary!!!!!

Previous here.

Chapters 9-14

Beckett: Halim, I need to leave London ASAP

Halim Bey, a well-respected member of the Camarilla who also has Seen Some Shit: I take it you did not find the book you were looking for?

Beckett: Excuse you, I’m a professional. Of course I got the book!

Halim: then why--

Beckett:

Halim:

Beckett:

Halim: Mr. Beckett, did you do a Naughty

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Halim, I shit you not, stuffs renowned Gangrel scholar Cuthbert Beckett into a Punishment Cabinet to think about what he’s done.

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By “Punishment Cabinet,” I mean a literal cabinet, which is then packed up and mailed to Lisbon so Beckett can angrily drink blood tea and get a lore dump about a lady with a void for a head. Something something Kemintiri. The author actually cuts away from the lore dump and I’m sad about it. :(

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MEANWHILE, BACK WITH BLAKES

Edward Bainbridge: hi, my name is Ed and I can do something no one else can

Wallig: and what is that?

Bainbridge: I’m going to creep out the creepiest dude in the World of Darkness.

Wallig: wh

Bainbridge: This is Wollig, the Tremere Regent. He’s the Regent of the Lion’s Green Chantry, which is a pulsing magical heart of the British Empire, upon which the sun never rises and British Kindred rule the night. Wallig is the scholar among scholars, dripping uncanny magical spark that others only have nightmares of.

Wallig: ...thank you?

Bainbridge, with his Food Merit: [sips tea]

Wallig: holy fuc--what the shit, oh my goD

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Uh, Malcom Seward joins a secret society of imperialist white dudes who secretly rule the Empire???? Their secret is that they’re competent at military strategy.

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Regina: Dad, I know I’m teenager and therefore have little experience of the world, but what’s going on is Not Normal and I think we should talk about our feelings, air out our grief, and maybe scale back on the heavy drinking and Uber Goth phase you seem to be going through.

Colonel Blake, a grown ass man: no.

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Emma, literally breaking out of the Tremere Chantry and risking torture to visit him: Babe, I love you and need you to Get Your Shit Together for our daughter.

Colonel Blake, still a grown ass man: no.

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Badass Alert: Regina breaks into Elysium

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Badass Alert: baby Theo Bell!!!! He’s so cute!!!!! His sire, Don Cerro de Leon, is a bit of a tosser because he keeps showing off Theo like a shiny object, but, uh, it also sounds like he’s excessively proud of his childe and wants Theo to make all the right connections to become an Archon later? Very double bladed “hey, have you met my son who is handsome and intelligent and good and murdered several slaveholders with his bare hands.”

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Badass Alert: Juliet Parr is a genderqueer Sheriff and I love her. (though TW for suicidal idealation because White Wolf cannot write non-ableist Malkavians)

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Badass Alert:

Victoria, in most ominous, spooky Goth tones: now, to be your guide and patron in this secret night society, we must make a solemn oath...in blood.

Victoria:

Regina:

Victoria:

Regina:

Victoria:

Regina: all right. [takes hat pin, stabs her own finger, drops some blood in the glass, and downs it in one swig]

Me: holy shit, I love her.